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TaylorMade SLDR Driver - Review Thread

SuperStroke
mayday1775 said:
I hit this today on the flight scope and I had some serious low spin and great numbers with it. My best drive had 2293 rpm back spin and -163 side spin. Club head speed of 114, ball speed of 167 and a total drive of 301. I really like this club. Now I have to wait for the price to come down.


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Those are great numbers. Hard to argue.

I had another range session today and kept the weight in the full draw position. Same old boring long and straight. Honestly it is an awesome driver. I do find that when I have the weight all the way in draw I can over cook a few and the hook is nasty. Going out to play Saturday and keep it at the 11* loft. After that I''m going to start messing around with higher lofts and see what results I can get. Also looking to get on a Trackman asap and get dialed in on some exact numbers.
 
Hit the range again last night and it seems as though the honeymoon phase is over. I did hit several good shots, but I really had to be in the center of the face to hit it straight. I'm sure that's a product of a bad swing, but i'm starting to see some of the forgiveness issues that others have mentioned. I'm going to try playing with the loft next time out and see if that does anything for me.
 
I'm hoping to get some cuts in with one on Saturday if JT will allow so.
 
jt2929 said:
Hit the range again last night and it seems as though the honeymoon phase is over. I did hit several good shots, but I really had to be in the center of the face to hit it straight. I'm sure that's a product of a bad swing, but i'm starting to see some of the forgiveness issues that others have mentioned. I'm going to try playing with the loft next time out and see if that does anything for me.
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JT I found with my SLDR it was reall difficult to hit until I dialled it up to 10.5, I am by no means a big hitter my longest around 280 but I was more accurate and still hit it longer than my R1
 
Playing tomorrow, and going to get some extended range time with the SLDR so I can work on a few things. Mainly, focusing in on the weight port on the bottom to really see if I can get a slight draw out of this one.
 
I had a range session of about 60 balls with this one in Stock Stiff yesterday and really mashed it. I wouldve missed 3-5 fairways out of 60 balls. I was just mashing it.

I dont think it was as long as my Bstone but it was definitely straighter. I love how straight it is on mishits. Its not very forgiving on mishits but when I play a driver thats too forgiving on mishits, the spin from the mishit causes the ball to go way offline. That didnt happen with this driver.
 
chuggz221 said:
JT I found with my SLDR it was reall difficult to hit until I dialled it up to 10.5, I am by no means a big hitter my longest around 280 but I was more accurate and still hit it longer than my R1
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I'm at 12* right now. I'm going to start playing with the loft the next time I hit the range.
 
War Eagle said:
Playing tomorrow, and going to get some extended range time with the SLDR so I can work on a few things. Mainly, focusing in on the weight port on the bottom to really see if I can get a slight draw out of this one.
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Beags Draw would melt minds.

I like it.
 
Jman said:
Beags Draw would melt minds.

I like it.
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Early going with the SLDR has it going straighter than I typicall see, and that is on the standard weight setting. Moving it to the draw setting could help me get that right/left movement, and if so, I am not sure what I would do with myself.
 
War Eagle said:
Early going with the SLDR has it going straighter than I typicall see, and that is on the standard weight setting. Moving it to the draw setting could help me get that right/left movement, and if so, I am not sure what I would do with myself.
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You missing much heel or toe with it? If so, what are you seeing?

From what I have gathered in this thread it's a bomber when hitting the sweet spot but doesn't have the lateral forgiveness the R1 offers.
 
#Cookie said:
You missing much heel or toe with it? If so, what are you seeing?

From what I have gathered in this thread it's a bomber when hitting the sweet spot but doesn't have the lateral forgiveness the R1 offers.
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No Cookie it doesnt have much lateral forgiveness. Not much at all IMO. This has a lot of forgiveness low on the face. This is a classic driver where the sweetspot is actually dead center in the club face, where normally as of late with the newer drivers Ive noticed that the sweetspot is higher up the face. Just what I gathered though.

I felt like I hit one thin and it went for miles.
 
#Cookie said:
You missing much heel or toe with it? If so, what are you seeing?

From what I have gathered in this thread it's a bomber when hitting the sweet spot but doesn't have the lateral forgiveness the R1 offers.
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I saw a little in the toe and none in the heel. My shaft is about 1/2" to 1" shorter than my old gamer and I seem to hit center face way more with this set up. Just something I noticed myself.
 
#Cookie said:
You missing much heel or toe with it? If so, what are you seeing?

From what I have gathered in this thread it's a bomber when hitting the sweet spot but doesn't have the lateral forgiveness the R1 offers.
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When I miss off-center, which is typically out on the toe, it is a nasty banana ball. I mean, nasty.

It is not forgiving. At all. A consistent strike, center of the club face is needed for the performance to be there.
 
War Eagle said:
When I miss off-center, which is typically out on the toe, it is a nasty banana ball. I mean, nasty.

It is not forgiving. At all. A consistent strike, center of the club face is needed for the performance to be there.
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That's about what I've seen. I think of it as having a pretty big sweet spot, but performance drops off dramatically once you get anywhere off of it.
 
War Eagle said:
When I miss off-center, which is typically out on the toe, it is a nasty banana ball. I mean, nasty.

It is not forgiving. At all. A consistent strike, center of the club face is needed for the performance to be there.
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This has been my experience so far as well. The heel is slightly better, but the sound is awful.
 
Leaving work here shortly so I'll be able to sneak in a range session. My focus will be changing the loft. Most of my focus has been the sliding weight. I'll have a full write up later tonight.

To the rest of the testers and guys who have given their input on this driver, awesome work so far. This has been a very exciting testing experience not only hitting this club but reading about everyone else's thoughts.
 
(Sorry about this rant lol but I think some may be able to relate to this and I think this little story has a lot to do with my testing success)

I was lucky enough to get out of work early today so I stopped at the range on my way home. Personally, I'm normally more of a play less, play better kind of guy. I'm not sure why that's the case. Maybe it's because when I play less there's less pressure to score and it's more about enjoying my time out on the course so I'm more relaxed. But I think that's all starting to change. Growing up and playing the game I never had good equipment. I had a starter set and then a set of Big Bertha 96 irons with off brand wedges and an old Nike driver. My first real "new" club was my PING G5 driver. Something about that club gave me the absolute most confidence. I would crush the ball time after time with it. After an upgrade of irons and learning more of the game, I was playing my absolute best golf and I'm 100% sure it was because of my tee game. After having a kid and not a lot of extra cash took me away from the game, I lost my swing, I lost my game and most importantly, I lost my confidence. But I'm writing this being completely honest when I say my confidence is back!

I spent my time on the range today with a medium bucket (65 balls) wanting to really focus on the differences the loft makes for me. After going lower I would see the normal start of flight but the ball would die around 220 yards or so. Going higher in loft, I felt I had much less control. Could have been the club, could have been me trying to steer the ball in a certain direction. But going back to where I originally had it (11*) I was right where I want it. I couldn't have thrown the ball more accurate. I was able to pick fade or draw which is something I've never been able to do. But what was most impressive was that I was able to literally hit my target sign. Twice. The guy next to me saw the first one and made a little joke saying "ha. Bet you couldn't do that again if you tried". And I kid you not, the very next ball hit the same sign. It was the 250 sign but the grass tees are 18 yards back of the mats and the yardage signs are marked off from the mats. I'll take 260-270 carry with on demand accuracy any day.

To me, the more confident I get with the SLDR, the less I mis-hit the ball. Out of 65 balls I had one worm burner and maybe a hand full of toe jobs. And with my swing that's a big improvement. I'm completely sold on the SLDR and have officially made it my exclusive driver. I don't even own my old driver anymore.

I have a couple more ideas for testing still but I don't wanna get too far ahead of myself. One step at a time with this game changer.

For those pondering a new driver or those curious about the hype of the SLDR, believe the hype. Believe the facts. This is the real deal.
 
PhillyV said:
(Sorry about this rant lol but I think some may be able to relate to this and I think this little story has a lot to do with my testing success)

I was lucky enough to get out of work early today so I stopped at the range on my way home. Personally, I'm normally more of a play less, play better kind of guy. I'm not sure why that's the case. Maybe it's because when I play less there's less pressure to score and it's more about enjoying my time out on the course so I'm more relaxed. But I think that's all starting to change. Growing up and playing the game I never had good equipment. I had a starter set and then a set of Big Bertha 96 irons with off brand wedges and an old Nike driver. My first real "new" club was my PING G5 driver. Something about that club gave me the absolute most confidence. I would crush the ball time after time with it. After an upgrade of irons and learning more of the game, I was playing my absolute best golf and I'm 100% sure it was because of my tee game. After having a kid and not a lot of extra cash took me away from the game, I lost my swing, I lost my game and most importantly, I lost my confidence. But I'm writing this being completely honest when I say my confidence is back!

I spent my time on the range today with a medium bucket (65 balls) wanting to really focus on the differences the loft makes for me. After going lower I would see the normal start of flight but the ball would die around 220 yards or so. Going higher in loft, I felt I had much less control. Could have been the club, could have been me trying to steer the ball in a certain direction. But going back to where I originally had it (11*) I was right where I want it. I couldn't have thrown the ball more accurate. I was able to pick fade or draw which is something I've never been able to do. But what was most impressive was that I was able to literally hit my target sign. Twice. The guy next to me saw the first one and made a little joke saying "ha. Bet you couldn't do that again if you tried". And I kid you not, the very next ball hit the same sign. It was the 250 sign but the grass tees are 18 yards back of the mats and the yardage signs are marked off from the mats. I'll take 260-270 carry with on demand accuracy any day.

To me, the more confident I get with the SLDR, the less I mis-hit the ball. Out of 65 balls I had one worm burner and maybe a hand full of toe jobs. And with my swing that's a big improvement. I'm completely sold on the SLDR and have officially made it my exclusive driver. I don't even own my old driver anymore.

I have a couple more ideas for testing still but I don't wanna get too far ahead of myself. One step at a time with this game changer.

For those pondering a new driver or those curious about the hype of the SLDR, believe the hype. Believe the facts. This is the real deal.
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Nice post Philly! I'm in absolute agreement. When I first got the sldr I kept my rbz in my bag in fear if the unknown but after a couple rounds I forgot where my rbz is lol
 
My only regret so far with the SLDR is I wish I made better swings on the Trackman than I did with Chris Carfangia. I know I could make better swings in my sleep. But other than that, it's been all positives so far
 
I spent some extended range time prior to todays round with the SLDR hoping to make a few tweaks to get this one dialed in. I changed it to Neutral Upright and slid the sliding weight around trying to find the perfect setup. I will have a full review up soon on the range session and the round, but wanted to get some quick thoughts up.

1. This driver is not forgiving on off-center hits. A miss away from the center of the face results in a very penalizing shot.
2. When hit dead on the sweet spot, it's a bomber. When I connected today, I was bombing them.
3. For me, I need lateral forgiveness on a driver face, as my miss today was low on the face toward the heel, and that resulted in some nasty misses that cost me a number of strokes.
4. JB hits this driver better than anything else I have ever seen him game. He was in places on the course today that were ridiculous off the tee. Max carry for sure for him with this one, it was impressive.


I am going to keep working with this one, as I want to find consistency with it. However, there is no denying that a miss will be a miss, and that for those who struggle with an inconsistent strike on the face of their driver will be quite penal.

It's just one of those things, that I think back on my round, and I remember a lot of the misses and my struggles, but then I think back to hole #15, when I hit an absolute bomb that was perfectly hit on the driver face, and it makes me want to work on my swing so I can unleash the beast of the SLDR.
 
PhillyV said:
My only regret so far with the SLDR is I wish I made better swings on the Trackman than I did with Chris Carfangia. I know I could make better swings in my sleep. But other than that, it's been all positives so far
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They seemed pretty good to me! Pounding the ball 270+ consistently and I recall no miss hits. I'd love to swing like that on that stage!
 
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